MotoGP Portimao test: Bagnaia ‘competitive at 90 per cent’

Reigning MotoGP Champion Pecco Bagnaia was the man to beat as final pre-season testing hit the track in Portugal this weekend.

The Ducati Lenovo rider sat fastest on Saturday thanks to a 1’38.771 effort on his penultimate lap of the day - his tally recording 78 trips on the Algarve rollercoaster - with the Italian straight back on the pace as Sunday fired up.

Already half a second under the all-time lap record by lunchtime, Bagnaia’s 1’38.154 second day effort was three-tenths clear of fellow Ducati man Jorge Martin on the Prima Pramac with five hours left to run.

“I’m happy,” Bagnaia said from Portimao on Saturday evening. “Sincerely we have done a really good job today. We finish all the plans so I’m satisfied.

“We are already at 90 per cent of developing of the new bike so tomorrow we will try to finish everything. Will be important to test the sprint race, to test the new schedule, but in any case, I’m very happy about today.

“The pace with the medium tyres, used tyres, the new soft was everything always competitive so I’m very happy.

“It’s a bike that we develop a bit on my riding style,” he continued, “and sincerely I start to love her every lap more because everything is okay with me, with my riding style. This is a particular track, because it’s a track that I really like, the layout is perfect for my riding style so I feel great with the new bike. So maybe, in this moment, suits well to my riding style, but let’s see in the future.”